The Sinn Féin leadership is prepared to call a specialardfheis in January to change its policy on policing inNorthern Ireland, The Irish Times has been told.

However, the party insists there will be no specialconference without prior agreement with the DUP on atimetable for the devolution of policing and justice powersto Stormont.

Senior Sinn Féin sources confirmed at the weekend that thespecial ardfheis would be necessary to permit MartinMcGuinness to accept his nomination as co-equal deputyfirst minister in the power-sharing Executive scheduled tobe appointed on March 26th.

They also say the DUP would be entitled to regard the newpledge of office, enshrined in last week's emergencyBritish legislation, as amounting to an explicitendorsement of the PSNI.

The sources reiterated however that Gerry Adams would notmove to call an ardfheis without DUP agreement on themodality of a new policing and justice ministry atStormont, the timetable for the transfer of powers and aresolution with the British government of the vexedquestion of MI5 involvement with the PSNI.

The signs also are that without prior agreement with theDUP to form a government on March 26th, Sinn Féin leadersare likely to join a growing number of politicians on allsides questioning why the planned Assembly elections shouldproceed.

In the House of Commons last week, SDLP leader Mark Durkansaid Northern secretary Peter Hain risked a "crazyposition" in which voters were asked to "endorse a deal"that had not been done. DUP chief whip Nigel Dodds said:"Some people might wonder in those circumstances whether anelection will advance anything."

Mr Dodds was one of the 12 dissenting DUP Assembly membersoverruled on Friday when party leader Ian Paisley issuedthe second crucial statement required by the British andIrish governments confirming that - provided his terms onpolicing and other outstanding issues were met - he wouldaccept nomination as first minister.

On Friday night, leadership sources suggested that thedissenting statement had been intended as an agreedchallenge to speaker Eileen Bell's interpretation of DrPaisley's first statement during the formal sitting of thetransitional Assembly.

However, The Irish Timeshas established that a number ofthe 12 subsequently given a dressing-down by the leadershipdid not know in advance of the second Paisley statementregarded by Downing Street as justification of primeminister Tony Blair's decision to allow the process tocontinue.

Mr Hain attempted to keep the pressure on Mr Dodds inparticular yesterday, demanding that some "leading figures"in the DUP - not Ian Paisley or Peter Robinson - "shouldstop saying they will never accept devolution [ of policingpowers] in their political lifetime".

Mr Robinson has pointed out that he used the offendingwords before Mr Dodds.

He was at one with his colleague in the Commons last weekin telling MPs that a timetable for the devolution ofpolicing powers was not a condition of the St AndrewsAgreement.

Handing over responsibility for policing and justice to anSDLP or Ulster Unionist Party minister is one of the modelsbeing considered to resolve the policing stand-off betweenthe DUP and Sinn Féin, according to senior politicalsources.

As Friday's Assembly meeting - postponed because of theattack on Parliament Buildings by Michael Stone -reconvenes today, the focus turns to policing.

As well as concluding Friday's meeting, the Assembly is tohear a report on the security implications of Stone'sattack.

It is likely now that armed PSNI officers will carry outsecurity duties at Stormont to assist unarmed securityguards.

Stone's early release licence under the Belfast Agreementhas been revoked and he is now due to serve the remaining18 years of the 30-year minimum sentence imposed on him fora 1988 attack at Milltown Cemetery, in which he killedthree people.

The British and Irish governments are now satisfied thatcomments made by DUP leader Rev Ian Paisley inside andoutside the Assembly chamber on Friday mean he isconditionally prepared to be First Minister.

The governments believe the process can now move to thenext stage of the St Andrews Agreement, persuading SinnFéin to call an ardfheis to endorse and support the PSNIand the rule of law.

However, the DUP and Sinn Féin remain deadlocked on thisissue. Sinn Féin is demanding a date for the devolution ofpolicing and justice to the Northern Executive while theDUP is insisting that no such commitment can be given.

North Belfast MP Nigel Dodds, in particular, has angeredSinn Féin by stating he could not see this devolutiontaking place within a "political lifetime".

Northern Secretary Peter Hain said yesterday that suchremarks from Mr Dodds and other leading members of the DUPwere unhelpful.

Equally, he said Sinn Féin must provide clarity by callingthe ardfheis on policing, and this should take place beforethe election.

The governments are currently working to an expectationthat the Sinn Féin ardfheis will be called before the endof January when the Assembly election campaign formallybegins.

Sinn Féin Assembly member Francis Brolly caused surprisewhen he was reported on Friday in Swiss newspaper Le Tempsas saying the ardfheis might not be called until thesummer. Mr Brolly later issued a statement saying he hadbeen misquoted and that responsibility for calling theardfheis rested solely with the party leadership.

Some Sinn Féin and DUP sources have indicated that there isa possible way of breaking the deadlock over when policingand justice would be devolved to the Northern Executive.

"One of the models currently being considered is thatrather than having a Sinn Féin or DUP minister in charge,the department could be run by a Ulster Unionist or SDLPminister, or that the department could be shared betweenUUP and SDLP ministers," said a senior source.

The governments now hope the Assembly programme forgovernment committee, which also meets today, will begindiscussing whether this or other models could break thedeadlock.

Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams and Chief Negotiator MartinMcGuinness will l ead the party delegations in both theAssembly meeting and the Programme for Government Committeetomorrow in Stormont. Speaking today after a party meetingin Belfast Mr McGuinness said:

"Gerry Adams and myself will lead the Sinn Féin delegationsin both the Assembly meeting and the Programme forGovernment Committee tomorrow in Stormont. Sinn Féin willbe approaching both meetings with the serious intention ofmoving forward the agenda set out by the governments at St.Andrews.

"All of the parties including the DUP know what is requiredof them in the coming weeks. The Programme for Governmentmeeting provides an opportunity for the DUP to engage inreal politics and seek out effective solutions to theissues which remain to be resolved.

"Clearly up until now the DUP have been reluctantparticipants in this process. However Sinn Féin are keen toget down to the business of working with them in sortingout serious issues like the timetable for the transfer ofpower on policing and justice and the departmental model.But resolving these matters will require the DUP to displaythe necessary political will in the days and weeks ahead."ENDS----

But the DUP's Nigel Dodds threw matters back on Sinn Féin,saying it was their failure to sign up to support thepolice and law and order that was behind the delay.

"Recent horrendous events including murder, petrol-bombattacks and other vicious crimes have resulted in a refusalby Sinn Féin to call for the police to be assisted in anyway in bringing the perpetrators to justice.

"That proves the distance Sinn Féin has yet to travel. Theonus is on them."

MICHAEL STONE, the crazed loyalist killer arrested atStormont on Friday in possession of weapons and explosives,had told friends that the only place he would feel safe wasin prison.

Following his dramatic arrest at the parliament building,associates of Stone have described him as a tortured manobsessed by the idea that republicans were plotting to killhim with a gun they seized during his attack at Milltowncemetery in 1988.

He had asked police on several occasions to interview himabout unsolved murders and murder conspiracies in whatseemed to be a campaign to be incarcerated again.

On Friday, he tried to burst into parliament buildings atStormont armed with an imitation pistol, a knife, agarrotte and eight amateurishly made pipe bombs.

Yesterday he appeared in Belfast’s Magistrates Courtcharged with attempting to murder Gerry Adams, the SinnFein president, and his colleague Martin McGuinness.

Whatever the outcome, Stone looks likely to get his wishand go back to jail. He was released on licence under theGood Friday agreement in 2000 while serving six lifesentences, with a recommendation that he spend at least 30years in prison.

The licence specifies that he can be returned to completehis sentence if he is a danger to the public or if he issuspected of engaging in acts of terror. That is the fatethat befell Sean Kelly, an IRA terrorist who bombed theShankill Road, and Johnny Adair, Stone’s loyalist rival.

Yesterday Adair taunted Stone, saying “now people will say‘did you see Stoner getting wrestled to the ground by awoman?’, ” a reference to Susan Porter, the Stormontsecurity guard who seized his replica weapon andoverpowered him.

Stone’s solo attempt to storm Stormont was described as the“actions of a lunatic” by Sir Hugh Orde, the PSNI chiefconstable. Former friends of the loyalist killer say thatthe origins of the attack go back to the day in March 1988,when Stone launched a similar kamikaze-style raid on thefuneral of three IRA members shot by the SAS in Gibraltar.Stone’s intention had been to get close enough to Adams andMcGuinness to kill them.

On that occasion, Stone had a real gun and succeeded inshooting dead three mourners in Milltown before members ofthe IRA seized the weapon and the police arrested him.

Under questioning he confessed to three other murders. Helater said he had made up one of these confessions, and hadnot, in fact, been responsible for the murder of DermotHackett, a delivery man shot dead near Omagh in 1987. Thatcase has now been re-opened.

An Ulster Defence Association source said: “Michael hadbecome obsessed with the idea that the IRA were going toshoot him with the gun they captured from him before anypeace deal was finally concluded. That is why he turnedagainst the Good Friday agreement after initiallysupporting it. He was totally paranoid and receivingtreatment.”

Stone reacted badly when he heard in jail that the Browningpistol taken from him had been used by the IRA to murderLance Corporal Roy Butler, an off-duty Ulster DefenceRegiment officer who was shot while shopping with his wifeand children in Belfast city centre in 1988.

After his release, Stone appeared to forget about hisphobia. He wrote a book and launched a career as an artist,mainly based on his notoriety. The signature on the back ofpaintings was the print of his right index finger, which hetold buyers was “Michael Stone’s trigger finger”.

In the past year his old demons had returned and he claimedto have heard a republican say in a television interviewthat his gun might be used to kill him.

He had given up art and had no fixed abode, usually stayingwith a girlfriend in the Rathcoole estate, Newtownabbey.

A former UDA colleague said: “He saw a deal between theDemocratic Unionist party and Sinn Fein coming, and hebelieves there will not be a deal until he is dead. He hasbeen trying to get put in jail for about the past ninemonths.”

Stone, 51, who suffers from crippling arthritis, hadtravelled to London earlier this year where he asked to beinterviewed about a number of unsolved murders, includingan alleged 1980s plot to murder Ken Livingstone, who wasleader of the Greater London council at the time.

He had also challenged police in Northern Ireland to arresthim and had been interviewed at Antrim police station butreleased. He was starting to be regarded as a nuisance.

Two weeks ago Stone revived the story of his supposed plotto kill Livingstone at a London Underground station and wasinterviewed by ITN television news in the grounds ofStormont.

Wearing a poppy and walking with the aid of a stick he toldthe interviewer: “I have regrets about my past. I regrethaving taken men’s lives during the conflict. I regret nothaving assassinated Adams and McGuinness and, to be quitehonest, I regret not having assassinated Ken Livingstone.”

The 22-year-old man, who wasn't publicly named in keepingwith police policy, was expected to be arraigned Monday inBelfast Magistrates Court on a lone charge of causing anexplosion likely to endanger life.

Police said they arrested the man Saturday on suspicion ofplanting time-controlled firebombs in two Belfast stores,including a massive hardware store that burned to theground, on Nov. 1.

In the mid-1980s, the IRA developed cassette-sizedfirebombs that were designed to be planted on store shelvesand ignite after closing time, so that shoppers and staffwere not injured. Dissidents have maintained the tacticsince the IRA in 1997 stopped its 27-year campaign tooverthrow Northern Ireland by force.

The Irish language has gone through something of a revivalin major population centres as gaelscoileanna emerged andfamilies welcomed an opportunity to get closer to theirroots.

A growing knowledge of the language was reflected in therecent census figures. And the voluntary basis of therecovery, assisted by some government funding, wasparticularly heartening. All the more reason then, to beconcerned about heavy-handed official intervention thatcould have a counter-productive effect.

Old habits die hard. Making rules and regulations is aPavlovian response within any bureaucracy. In the past,politicians drew lines around gaeltacht and breac-gaeltachtareas and provided special grants for the people there.Irish was made compulsory in all schools. And you couldn'tget a State job if you didn't have the cupla focal. Inspite of that, literacy levels in Irish and day-to-dayusage declined. Today, many second-level students have onlya vestigial knowledge of Irish. We have laws andregulations to beat the band but many people have becomealienated from a limping revival campaign.

Minister for Rural, Community and Gaeltacht Affairs Eamon OCuív must have been aware of the corrosive effectcompulsion can have on public sentiment when he signed aseries of directives on October 2nd requiring all publicbodies to utilise the Irish language on their officialanswering and public address systems; to use it on allnotepaper and office stationary; and to give it precedenceon their public signage from January 1st, 2009. About 500organisations and agencies will be affected. But thefinancial cost involved and the impact of them on publicattitudes has not been quantified.

Independent Senator Joe O'Toole, a committed revivalist,has suggested the Minister should encourage, rather thandirect, public bodies to utilise the Irish language to agreater extent. And he has criticised the one-size-fits-allapproach taken to such a disparate group. Why, he wondered,should the Crisis Pregnancy Agency and the Chester BeattyLibrary be treated like a county council ? There is clearlya case to be made for exemptions and for a gradualistapproach in particular circumstances.

Last month, the people of Dingle in Co Kerry votedoverwhelmingly against the Minister's determination thatall road signs for the town should be displayed in Irish.Confusion caused by a change in name to Daingean Ui Chuiscould have cost the town business and, ultimately, jobs.Eventually, Mr O Cuív accepted a compromise involving theuse of English and Irish. We should foster our nativelanguage, but through gentle encouragement and incentive,rather that crude compulsion.

On November 16th, Sean Oliver, Sinn Fein's representativefor the United Ireland campaign spoke in Baltimore. Whatfollows is a summary of his presentation. All ideas,paraphrased and quoted remarks are his. For more info.check out www.irelandofequals.com.

Intro.

While carrying on "the tradition of Connolly & Mellows incommunicating with Irish America", the goal of a UnitedIreland includes educating and involving Irish America,particularly in the areas of all-Ireland and cross-borderdevelopment.

1. The struggle is reunification, which is an ongoingprocess. We are not sitting around and waiting for the"big day." SF is working on as much cross-borderdevelopment as possible in preparation for the transitionto reunification.

A. Economics--the South is the stronger economy now andthere is growing interest in the north about sharing in it.The British and Irish governments recently released adocument stating that "political borders" need not impede"strong island-wide development".

B. GFA--All Ireland development is mandated by theagreement. Each branch of the Irish government such aslanguage, tourism, and resources now has an all Irelandcoordinator.

C. Border Communities--These communities face uniquedifficulties not of their making regarding differentcurrencies, healthcare, and the obstacles that arise whencalling across a field becomes an international call due toan artificial border.

D. Sinn Fein, on the anniversary of the Hunger Strikers'5 Demands, has created 2006's 5 Demands for Irish Unity.

1. A Green paper issued by Dublin including matterssuch as unionist engagement (not political leaders, butchurch leaders) in acknowledgement of our shared future.

2. The right of all residents of the 6 Counties, whowish to, to vote for the Irish President.

3. Northern MPs should be granted speaking rights inDublin.

4. All-Ireland systems of government rather thanduplicating or conflicting systems.

5. Regarding Bertie's party, FF, we must "pin them upto their colors." Since they claim to be a Republicanparty, we must demand that they explain what they are doingfor reunification.

2. Current Situation

A. The armed struggle is over. All Republican activistshave been and will continue to be encouraged to join thepolitical process.

B. St. Andrew's Agreement--The agreement is an agreement"between governments, not parties." SF's aims includedefending the GFA, including the right to a referendum,restoring the assembly, and resolving the issues ofpolitical prisoners and on-the-runs.

C. Despite (or perhaps because of) his malign influence,Paisley must be pulled into the political process. After40 years of "no" he has moved to a "maybe." That is aseismic shift for him. We will continue ongoingconsultation w/ Paisley with the understanding that theywill have to share power w/ SF and that those ministerswill have to become part of an All-Ireland body.

3. Sinn Fein & Policing

A. We know the history of murders and collusion."Nationalists need to feel it is their police force andthey can join it and serve their community." While someprogress has been made, we are not there yet.

B. When SF leadership believes appropriate measures havebeen taken they will call for a vote. The delegates willthen convene and vote on a policing measure.

C. We are not talking about "joining" the PSNI. The goalfor the nationalist and republican communities right now isSCRUTINY! If we choose to participate with the policingboards, it will be to supervise the protection of ourneighborhoods.

D. "Nationalist neighborhoods want policing to curb drugsand violence, but they will not pay any price for it."They want fair and unbiased policing and there is stillwork to do in that regard.

E. In some neighborhoods, SF councilors would by virtue ofdemographics chair the board as the dominant party. Thereare still some "remnants of the bad days" that do not wantto answer to republicans. That situation must be resolved.

Conclusion: Our struggle is still about the EasterProclamation. That remains "our manifesto." The "unionistbastions of City Hall and Stormount now harbor"democratically elected Sinn Fein officials. That is stillvery difficult for many unionist officials to accept. "Weare in the body politic and will not leave. Becoming amajor political force in the north and south is the onlyway to implement the Proclamation. We have masteredresistance, now we are focused on creating."

It depends on what you believe in, and what you're willingto do because of that belief.

I'm not quite sure what Michael Stone believes in; it seemsto be some twisted mixture of political and religiousbigotries that views Catholic Christians and the modernEuropean nation of the Republic of Ireland as some demi-demons from a medieval hell. But that's no matter.

Because of his beliefs he has killed. Many times. And hehas injured even more. Without discrimination. Without, Iwould think, mercy or any empathy with his victims, theirfamilies, friends and neighbours. By doing so hecontributed so much pain to generations of people of allfaiths and none across the island of Ireland.

And he's still described, by some, as a Loyalist. Loyal towhom? The British Crown? Her Majesty's Government? Hislocal community?

To the very concept of democracy?

There was a lot made of his appearance in that TV showwhere he came face to face with not just the relatives ofsomeone he'd killed, but to the pain, anger and anguish hisactions had caused. Part of me thought it might be a realsign of a sudden outbreak of empathy and understanding ofour shared human worth.

After the events at Stormont on Friday, I somehow doubt it.

The political situation in Northern Ireland is by no meansideal. But that's true democracy; people being forced toco-operate and work together. It's not easy; in fact, it'sbloody hard, particularly in the likes of Northern Irelandwhere so much pain, anger and anguish has been caused overthe decades. Clearly, it's not something that Michael Stonecan feel he can accept.

So he attempts to blow it up. In possibly the most patheticway possible...

I sincerely hope that it has helped concentrate minds ofthe politicians in Northern Ireland, who have - it shouldbe pointed out - been in receipt of Assembly salaries forthe last four years despite not actually doing anything.

After so long, and so much horror, there must be nosurrender to those willing to use force to enforce theirchildish, bigoted view of the world on the rest of us.

Éamon de Valera sent the head of the department of foreignaffairs to Rome in the spring of 1937 to try and get theapproval of Pope Pius XI for his new Constitution, beforeit was presented to the Dáil, according to a collection ofdocuments on Irish foreign policy to be published thisweek, writes Stephen Collins, Political Correspondent.

Although the Pope refused to endorse the Constitution, asit did not formally recognise the Catholic Church as theonly true church, a senior Vatican official said "it was agreat change for the better" compared to the Free Stateconstitution.

Joseph P Walshe, the secretary of the department, went toRome in April, 1937 to seek the approval of the Vatican forthe sections of the Constitution dealing with religiousmatters which recognised the "special position" of theCatholic Church, but which also recognised the other majorreligions.

In a memo to de Valera, Walshe said of his first meetingwith the Vatican secretary of state, Cardinal Pacelli: "Ithought it well to say at a very early stage that you fullyrealised that the sections of the constitution underdiscussion did not correspond with the complete Catholicideal. You would like to have the approval of the Vaticanin so far as it could be given.

"At any rate you wished to have the satisfaction of havingthe Card Sec and the Holy Father see the sections relatingto the Church before putting them before parliament. CardPacelli expressed his great joy that you had done so.

"You should understand that whatever he and the Holy Fathermight say they were in the fullest sympathy with you andthe Govt in your difficulties, and thus appreciated howgreat a task it was to achieve anything like the Catholicideal in the special circumstances."

Nonetheless, the Cardinal told Walsh that in light of hispreliminary chat with the Pope he felt obliged to say that"the special position given to the Catholic Church had noreal value so long as there was not a formal recognition ofthe RC Church as the Church founded by Christ. Moreover . .. the realisation given to the other churches mollified anyadvantage which might have been derived from exclusiverecognition. He thought we should use the word tolerate inregard to them."

When the Pope finally pronounced his view it came as a deepdisappointment to Walshe. "Ni approvo ni non disapprovo;taceremo." (I do not approve, neither do I not disapprove;we shall maintain silence."

Concluding his memo to de Valera Walshe said: "I want toexpress my great regret at not having been able to do whatI was sent out to do." Nonetheless, he concluded: "There isvery sincere respect and even gratitude for the extent towhich you have been able to go in making our Constit.Catholic."